Kempton Winter Festival: Betting Tips, Stats & History

The Winter Festival at Kempton Racecourse is one of the highlights of the racing year. It’s held over two days on the 26th and 27th December and includes some of the biggest races and most exciting horses within the industry.

The feature race of the meeting comes in the form of the King George VI Chase, one of the biggest races in the National Hunt calendar.

The current sponsors are that of 32Red and its these guys who have been able to plough a significant amount of money into the meeting and in turn, Kempton racecourse. 32Red haven’t been all that active within horse racing, so it came as quite a surprise to see them all of a sudden sponsor one of the biggest meetings in the UK.

Kempton Winter Festival Betting Tips For 2018

One of the biggest national hunt race meetings of the year takes place at Kempton Park Racecourse on the 26th and 27th of December in the form of their Winter Festival. The two-day event hosts some top class jumps racing and gives some crucial pointers towards the Cheltenham Festival which follows in March.

After the overindulgences of Christmas, the Kempton meeting provides a welcome return of racing in a packed sporting schedule. The feature King George VI Chase, a traditional boxing day fixture, has provided some memorable moments over the years and has been won by some of the sport's greats.

Day 2 – Thursday 27th December 2018

Whilst Day 1 undoubtable provides the key races of the meeting, Day 2 also has some great action for racing fans. The highlights on the second day of the Winter Festival are the two Grade 2s, the Wayward Lad Chase and the Desert Orchid Chase.

Time

Race

Grade / Length

Tip

12:50

32Red Casino Juvenile Hurdle

Class 2 / 2m

Deadline Diva

1:20

Wayward Lad Novices' Chase

Grade 2 / 2m

Dynamite Dollars

1:55

32Red Casino Mares' Handicap Hurdle

Class 2 / 3m 1/2 f

Momella

2:30

Desert Orchid Chase

Grade 2 / 2m

Altior

3:05

32Red.com Handicap Chase

Class 2 / 3m

Wandrin Star

3:35

32Red Handicap Hurdle

Class 3 / 2m

Distingo

About the King George VI Chase

The King George VI is probably the highlight of the whole festival and has served some of the biggest names in the sports history. The race is run over 3 miles and with it includes 18 fences that the horses must navigate themselves over.

It’s open to 4-year olds and up and has a minimum weight of 112st 3lb for 4yo and 11st 10lb for 5yo. In 2016, it recorded a record prize pool of £29,750 with over £119,000 of that money going to the winner, making it the most lucrative race at the Kempton Winter Festival.

To say it’s a warm up for the Cheltenham Gold Cup is probably not doing the race justice, but it is often linked with that race, with winners and horses that do well going on to compete in the Gold Cup as well. In fact, many of the most successful horses from the race have won both, more of which we talk about later in this article.

Statistics

The King George VI has seen many legends of the game both race, train and ride within the race. But, few can hold a candle to the success that Kauto Star has seen since the first ever race back in 1937.

The legendary Kauto Star, who now has their own race named after them within the Festival has won the King George VI on 5 separate occasions, from 2006 through to 2011. In fact, it was only a monumental ride from Long Run in the 2010 race that prevented Kauto Star from going 5 in a row. But the horse showed his class in 2011 by bouncing back and winning the race again.

It’s Paul Nicholls who is the most successful trainer and again, by some distance. Nicholls has won the race 9 times, with 5 of those being with Kato Star. His other victories have been with See More Business in 1997 and 1999, before his latest have been with the modern-great, Silviniaco Conti.

In terms of successful jockeys, it’s ruby Walsh who leads the way with 5 wins. It will come as no surprise to hear that Walsh was the long-time jockey on that of Kauto Star, giving him all of his 5 wins. What’s probably more unsurprising is the fact that Walsh has been able to win the race since on any other horse, but often going out as one of, if not the favourite.

The race is often seen as one of those can make legends and this is because that horses are able to ride in it so often. The cream always comes to the top though and with it there have been multiple winners over the years. These include Desert Orchid, Kicking King, One Man, The Fellow, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck, Captain Christy and Pendil.

The King George often plays to the form book, with the favourite of the racing being a fairly short price. In 11 of the last 15 races the favourite has won the race and only once has the favourite not been able to make top 2 within that timeframe.

It’s also worth noting that on current form all of the last 15 winners have previously win a Grade 1 race at some point before winning the King George, often coming into the race on the back of a win.

2017 King George VI Chase Full Result

Horse

Age

Trainer

Jockey

SP

1st

Might Bite

8

Nicky Henderson

Nico de Boinville

6/4 f

2nd

Double Shuffle

7

Tom George

A P Heskin

50/1

3rd

Tea For Two

8

Nick Williams

Lizzie Kelly

20/1

4th

Thistlecrack

9

Colin Tizzard

Tom Scudamore

5/1

5th

Whisper

9

Nicky Henderson

Aidan Coleman

7/1

6th

Bristol De Mai

6

Nigel Twiston-Davies

Daryl Jacob

3/1

7th

Traffic Fluide

7

Gary Moore

Joshua Moore

66/1

PU

Fox Norton

7

Colin Tizzard

B J Cooper

7/1

2016 King George VI Chase Full Result

Horse

Age

Trainer

Jockey

SP

1st

Thistlecrack

8

Colin Tizzard

Tom Scudamore

11/10 f

2nd

Cue Card

10

Colin Tizzard

Paddy Brennan

5/4

3rd

Silviniaco Conti

10

Paul Nicholls

Noel Fehily

20/1

4th

Tea For Two

7

Nick Williams

Lizzie Kelly

25/1

5th

Josses Hill

8

Nicky Henderson

Daryl Jacob

8/1

Boxing Day

As the first of the two days and because it’s held on Boxing Day, the opening day is seen as not just one of the highlights of the jump season, but one of the highlights of the years racing. The folk at Kempton really do make this a party atmosphere and it does have a much more relaxed feel about it compared with the likes of Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National meeting.

But, the calibre of racing is almost unrivalled and whilst the King George is the undoubtable highlight, the meeting does manage to offer a host of other, high calibre races as well. The two other Grade 1 races on the day are the Kauto Star Novices’ Chase and the Christmas Hurdle.

The Kauto Star is the novices’ race and with it you see an almost carbon copy of the track that’s run in the King George VI. 3 miles long and 18 fences to navigate over often sees room for the next generation of chasers to really stake a name for themselves and get some major honours under their belt, whilst still relatively young. The name of the race is of course after the great Kauto Star, when it was decided in 2013 that the name change would become permanent by the British Horseracing Authority. Successful winners of the race have included the likes of Tea For Two, Dynaste, Long run, Maximize and Nagari.

The Christmas Hurdle is the second Grade 1 race of the day. Ran over 2 miles, the race is a often much quicker than the other two Graded races, with just 8 hurdles to be jumped. The Christmas Hurdle is probably most notable as being the second leg in the Triple Crown of hurdling, alongside that of The Fighting Faith Hurdle in Newcastle and The Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.

The race comes with £100,000 worth of prizemoney, with £57,218 of that going to the winner. It’s been running in some form at Kempton since 1969, with several of those winners over the years going on to see success in the Champions Hurdle at Cheltenham. As part of the Triple Crown, it’s worth noting that only one horse has ever been able to win all three, that of Kribensis in 1989-90, trained by Sir Michael Stout, creating a highly prestigious reward. Notable winners of the race have included Faugheen, Binocular, Harchibald, Go Native, Intersky Falcon and, of course, Kribensis.

Boxing Day Prize Money

Name

Grade

1st Prize

Novices’ Hurdle

Class 2

£11,260

Novices’ Limited Handicap

Class 3

£12,558

Kauto Star Novices’ Chase

Class 1 (Grade 1)

£40,568

Christmas Hurdle

Class 1 (Grade 1)

£56,950

King George VI

Class 1 (Grade 1)

£119,025

Handicap Hurdle

Class 3

£9,384

Day Two

In terms of ‘named’ races, the second day at the festival may seem a little After the Lord’s Mayor Show. But, even the lack of Grade 1 races still allows for a really competitive day on the 27th, headlined by the two Grade 2 races in the form of the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase and the Desert Orchid Chase.

As the names for both suggest, the races are after absolute legends of the sport, with more on each alter in his article. Both of the races are also interestingly held over 2miles and which the Desert Orchid has significantly bigger payout, with £46,981 going to first place compared with £22,780 in the Wayward Lad Novices’, there is very little between the two in terms of the calibre of racing.

Day Two Prize Money

Name

Grade

1st Prize

Introductory Juvenile Hurdle

Class 2

£12,512

Mares’ Handicap Hurdle

Class 2

£12,512

Novices’ Chase

Class 1 (Grade 2)

£22,780

Desert Orchid Chase

Class 1 (Grade 2)

£46,981

Handicap Hurdle

Class 3

£12,512

Handicap Chase

Class 2

£25,024

History of the King George VI Chase and Winter Festival

The King George VI at Kempton Park has fast become one of the racing highlights of the year. It’s been able to include the biggest names from throughout the sport and since it’s first running in 1937, has allowed horses to be immortalised in horse racing.

The first running of the race in 1937 was to celebrate the new King of England, King George VI. Because of the war, the race was actually only run twice before it was postponed. The Kempton Park racecourses was used as a prison of war camp, such was the size and importance of the area that the racecourse took up.

The race has always been run over 3 miles and with the first couple of incisions, only 4 horses took part in either. The first winner was that of Sothern Hero, aged 12, still making it the oldest winner of the race to this day.

For the return of the race after the war in 1947, a new date was decided, Boxing Day. The festival was to work around the King George VI race, which was attracting the bigger names within the horse racing sector. Even since then, the race has been run on the same day, each year, attracting tens of thousands of fans from around the UK and the even the world.

There have only ever been 6 years since the war that the race has not run. In 1961 and 1962 this was down to frost, in 1967 it was foot and mouth, 1968 was frost again, 1970 was snow and then 1981 because of frost and snow.

But, regardless of these abandonments, the race is seen as a popular date. Boxing Day in the UK is a big day of sport, regardless of if you are a horse racing fan or not. Football have full fixture lists, but so do horse racing, with around half a dozen meetings across the UK.

Racing is usually a sport that is run pretty much every day of the year, but over Christmas the sport gets few days off, usually from the 22nd onwards. The Boxing Day meetings are to signal that the racing calendar is back on and whilst not the start of the season, it does feel like the mini-break allows for a recharge of the batteries and to get back to it with the Winter Festival.

Kauto Star

Kauto Star is undoubtedly one of the greatest race horses of all time. Throughout a long and illustrious career, the legend has won 18 major races, with 5 of those coming at the hands of the King George VI. Kauto Star also holds the record of winning margin within the race of 36 lengths, which he achieved in 2009, beating Arkle’s 44-year record of 30 lengths by some distance, highlighting the quality of this horse. Whilst 36 lengths victory is impressive in any race, to do it in a Grade 1 race that was full of quality opponents and winners, makes it even more special.

As a result of this 2009 win, he then went on to receive the highest rating ever given by the Racing Post for a National Hunt horse of 192. In fact, his highest ever rating of 193 was bettered b only that of Arkle (212) and Flying Bot (210).

But, behind every great horse is usually a great trainer and this is the case with Kauto Star in the form of Paul Nicholls. In fact, Nicholls has seen a lot of success in this race, winning it 9 times, with See More Business and Silviniaco Conti both double winners. Jockey Ruby Walsh rode all of Kauto Star’s 5 winners in the race, and again has seen great success as a result of this great horse.

The fact that a bronze statue of Kauto Star has pride and place in Kempton Park just highlights his success even more.

Desert Orchid

Desert Orchid is another legend that is in the same league as the likes of Kauto Star. He’s won the race on 4 occasions and was a generation or so before Kauto Star. To see them both run together would have been a magical thing!

The horses 4 wins came in the mid-late eighties and early nineties, with three back to back victories in ’88, ’89 and ’90. Trainer, David Elsworth, is widely known for his work with Desert Orchid, working closely with the Burridge family who owned the horse.

The horse has been able to see a huge amount of success around the world, including victories in the Irish Grand National, Racing Post Chase, Victor Chandler Chase and of course, probably the horses crowning glory, victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1989.

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